Alabama vs. Clemson final score, result: Three-point explosion propels Alabama to first Final Four in program history

The smallest man made the biggest difference for Alabama on Saturday.

Mark Sears has long been the Crimson Tide’s on-court leader. He took a step towards program immortality during Saturday’s Elite Eight contest with Clemson, however, spearheading his side past an upstart Tigers squad to punch their ticket to the Final Four for the first time in program history.

Alabama inched past Clemson, 89-82, on Saturday evening. Sears was the standout, pouring through a game-high 23 points on 8-of-18 shooting (7-of-14 from three).

Mark Sears has hit four in a row from beyond the arc 🔥#MarchMadness @AlabamaMBB pic.twitter.com/KqdvY4nzeD

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 31, 2024

MARK SEARS FROM THE PARKING LOT 😱 pic.twitter.com/aU0maaZaJK

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 31, 2024

Sears wasn’t alone in the productivity, however. After a slow start — the Tide fell behind by as much as 13 during the game’s opening stages — ‘Bama found its footing. Freshman Jarin Stevenson was a big reason why, sinking a career-high five triples off the bench. He entered Saturday’s contest as a 29 percent three-point shooter.

Stevenson paced the comeback. Sears and senior big man Nick Pringle finished it off, combining for 39 points to keep the Tigers at arm’s length.

The Crimson Tide have one of the nation’s most prolific offenses. They’ll face quite the test in No. 1-overall seed UConn, which has battered sides thus far in this tourney to the tune of an average margin of victory of 27.5 points.

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The Sporting News tracked live updates and highlights from Sunday’s Elite Eight duel between Alabama and Clemson.

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Alabama vs. Clemson score

	1	2	F
Alabama	35	54	89
Clemson	32	50	82

Alabama vs. Clemson live updates, results, highlights from 2024 March Madness

(All times Eastern)

11:11 p.m.: Alabama does it! Fueled by hot shooting, the Crimson Tide punch their ticket to the Final Four, vanquishing Clemson 89-82.

11:05 p.m.: Zoinks…

Clemson 3-for-11 from the FT line in the second half and it’s a five-point game…

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) March 31, 2024

11:02 p.m.: Clark — an 83.3 percent field throw shooter — misses his two free throw attempts. The Tigers are down five with 35 seconds left. Things are not looking good for those in orange-and-white.

11:00 p.m.: Sears breaks down his marker and sinks yet another triple! That’s his seventh of the night! What a showing for the senior floor general.

“BIG SHOT MARK IN THE HOUSE”

MARK SEARS IS CLUTCH ❄️#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/AFOkjNoehu

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 31, 2024

10:57 p.m.: Pringle is imposing his will on Schiefflin and the Tigers. Just evaded his marker and finished through the contact for the and-one. Tide’s lead returns back to six. Pringle has 16 and 11 thus far. Just three points shy of his career-high.

10:55 p.m.: Girard sinks from the top of the key! Tigers pull it within three. This one is going down to the wire.

10:50 p.m.: Nick Pringle flexes his muscle in the paint.
Overcomes Hall’s bump to tip in Sears’ first errant jumper of the half. That will be it for Hall, who fouls out having posted 14 points in this one. It will be a long way back for the Tigers without their leading scorer.

ONCE YOU POP YOU CAN’T STOP

NICK PRINGLE IS OUT HERE pic.twitter.com/QD8iL3K5Q8

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 31, 2024

10:46 p.m.: Sears sinks his sixth-consecutive triple! He’s unconscious from deep! Up to 20 points on the night.

MARK. SEARS.

SIX TRIPLES IN A ROW 🔥#MarchMadness @AlabamaMBB pic.twitter.com/W3S29KR9xr

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 31, 2024

10:40 p.m.: And another one from Spears! His fifth straight triple, this one from way beyond the arc. The Crimson Tide appear to be separating themselves.

10:39 p.m.: Back-to-back-to-back-to-back threes as Clemson and Alabama go back and forth from beyond the arc. Stevenson’s up to 19 on the game, a new career-high.

10:35 p.m.: Hall picks up his fourth foul. He’s got four and Nelson has four. It’s a race to the bottom to see which standout falls out of this one first.

10:32 p.m.: Sears sinks from distance once more. That his fourth straight make from beyond the arc. Quite the turnaround for the All-American after missing his first six attempts.

Mark Sears has hit four in a row from beyond the arc 🔥#MarchMadness @AlabamaMBB pic.twitter.com/KqdvY4nzeD

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 31, 2024

10:29 p.m.: Nelson picks up his fourth foul after caroming into Hall as he tossed up an errant layup. You’d have to imagine he’ll sit for some time. Still more than 10 minutes left in the half.

10:22 p.m.: Stevenson sinks his fourth three-pointer of the affair as Alabama extends its lead to six. He didn’t enter Saturday’s contest as an especially effective shooter, hitting just 29 percent of his efforts from beyond the arc. You wouldn’t be able to tell with his showing so far, however.

Jarin Stevenson is getting RED HOT for the Crimson Tide pic.twitter.com/xyRQABCxjR

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 31, 2024

10:18 p.m.: Hall finding his range as this one wears on. He’s up to 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Continuing to showcase his proficiency with inch-perfect shooting form.

10:12 p.m.: Nelson responds with a two-handed dunk of his own!

10:11 p.m.: P.J. Hall finishes with a flourish! Soars through the hand to fire home the one-handed tomahawk!

PJ HALL JUST ROCKED THE RIM MY GOODNESS pic.twitter.com/p3KikFlIOY

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 31, 2024

10:07 p.m.: Once more, Clemson goes to the well of interior scoring to start the second. Schiefflin finishes through contact as the Tigers cut into Alabama’s slim lead.

End of first half: Alabama 35, Clemson 32

9:42 p.m.: ‘Bama started the game the slower of the two sides. However, after racing out on a 22-6 run, the Tide are out in front. Impressive showing as the half wore on. They’re 20 minutes away from their first Final Four appearance.

9:40 p.m.: Mark Sears sinks from distance! This Alabama lead continues to bubble. What a turnaround form the Tide; they’ve found their rhythm since the halfway point of the first half.

Alabama takes the lead!! 🐘🐘 pic.twitter.com/IeGDir5dOY

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 31, 2024

9:36 p.m.: Griffen sinks from the corner! The Tide take their first lead of the game!

9:34 p.m.: Alabama unleashed a 13-2 run to put itself on the brink of equalizing the score. Points in bunches has always been the name of the game for the Tide. No exception in this one as the contest has worn on.

9:32 p.m.: Crimson Tide battling their way back into this one. A corner three by Jarin Stevenson cuts the Tigers’ lead to just two.

Here comes Bama 👀#MarchMadness @AlabamaMBB pic.twitter.com/OkdedeH9y7

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 31, 2024

9:22 p.m.: Alabama can’t get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. Oats’ high-power offense — which averaged more than 91 points per game this season — went nearly six minutes without a basket before Estrada found the target.

9:19 p.m.: The Tigers defense continues to flex its might in the opening moments of tonight’s game. They erupt after plucking a pass, feeding Hunter who finishes through Griffen’s foul. 8-0 run for Clemson in the last minute or so. Tigers lead sits at double-digits.

9:17 p.m.: Godfrey sinks his second and-one of the day, outmuscling a despondent Sears to finish with verve. Clemson leads 18-12 with 9:40 left.

9:09 p.m.: Nate Oats going deep into his bench in an effort to make up for Nelson’s absence. Role player Mohamed Wague bats away RJ Godfrey’s effort with authority. Clemson holding firm in front, although the Tide are keeping things close.

9:01 p.m.: It seems Clemson’s desire to get inside the painted area is already coming up mill house. Nelson’s already been forced to head to the bench after accruing two fouls in rapid succession.

8:58 p.m.: Looks like there’s a real desire from the Tigers to get into the post. Clemson’s opened up a 6-0 lead after sinking three straight shots the cup. Two of those buckets came while attacking the Sweet 16 star Nelson.

8:56 p.m.: Hall opens the scoring with a delicate hook shot from the middle of the paint.

PJ Hall putting in work early pic.twitter.com/g3CAERM76X

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 31, 2024

8:54 p.m.: Starting lineup for tonight’s clash is as such:

Alabama:

Mark Sears
Aaron Estrada
Rylan Griffen
Nick Pringle
Grant Nelson

Clemson:

Chase Hunter
Joseph Girard III
Jack Clark
Ian Schieffelin
PJ Hall

Tip-off coming up in a jiffy.

8:46 p.m.: Seems like there’s a fair few Clemson fans in the building tonight. However, it should be a fairly pro-Bama crowd for this one.

I *think* there are more Alabama fans here… but honestly, pretty impressed/surprised by the Clemson turnout.

Heard a few folks in my hotel lobby who said they flew in after the Tigers beat Arizona.

— Brendan Marks (@BrendanRMarks) March 31, 2024

8:00 p.m.: Both teams streaming into the stadium as the opening salvo gets closer and closer to dropping.

The Tide is in the building!#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/b37b2Y449I

— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) March 30, 2024

On the move 🚌 pic.twitter.com/gFPa2n9erp

— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) March 30, 2024

7:40 p.m.: Plenty of Tigers faithful in and around Crypto.com Arena to root on their beloved team tonight. We’re about one hour from tip-off.

Thank you #ClemsonFamily for the warm send off! 🐅🐅🐅 pic.twitter.com/g0AyLR3tXE

— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) March 30, 2024

7:20 p.m.: We’re about an hour and a half away from history. The Crimson Tide and Tigers duel for a spot in the Final Four from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena.